1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle headlamps each radiating a light distribution pattern for high beam having a plurality of functions toward a forward direction of a vehicle. Further, the present invention relates to a vehicle headlamp apparatus including the vehicle headlamp radiating the light distribution pattern for high beam having the plurality of functions toward the forward direction of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle headlamp and a vehicle headlamp apparatus of these types (hereinafter, referred to as a “vehicle headlamp system”) are conventionally known (e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 2010-140661). Hereinafter, the conventional vehicle headlamp system will be described. The conventional vehicle headlamp system includes two sets of lighting device units (a lighting device unit including a projecting lens, a pair of light emitting elements disposed right and left thereof, a pair of reflectors, and a vertically-disposed double-sided mirror) and two sets of swivel features turning the lighting device unit in a horizontal direction. The conventional vehicle headlamp system combines control for lighting on/off the pair of the light emitting elements with control for driving/stopping the two sets of swivel features so as to each radiate the light distribution pattern for high beam having the plurality of functions toward the forward direction of the vehicle.
However, since the aforementioned conventional vehicle headlamp system needs the two sets of lighting device units and the two sets of swivel features, a large number of components are required, thereby increasing a size of the vehicle headlamp system and a production cost thereof accordingly.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problems in which the conventional vehicle headlamp system requires the large number of components, thereby increasing the size of the vehicle headlamp system and the production cost thereof accordingly.